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I agree, the number of sighting report hoaxes is low enough as to be a non-factor. Video and photoshop hoaxing is all the rage, but its really just an adolescent rite of passage and also not a factor.

Other than all the fake reports. You know, those hoaxes.

Feynman famously said The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.

Footers are the easiest to fool. And if others won't fool them, they'll do it themselves. Over and over and over. They'll do it with foolhardy impunity, then pat each other on the back, proud in their foolishness.

__________________A sentimental materialization of the kind of quasi‐rural bonhomie that seemed a millimeter from actual goose‐stepping and brown‐shirt uproars of bumpkin fascism.

How about looking for a mid-tarsal break in your own casting there Dandy Don?! The amazing thing is there's not a hint, a line, an indention, an indication of anything that bends in the "mid-tarsal" area of Meldrum's own casting and in fact the "foot" that made that particular impression has never been bent in that middle area ever. Apparently only some Bigfoot have the mid-tarsal break and all the others politely declined the offer?

I never trust dudes whose ties are the same color as their shirt like that. It means that he went to Penney's and got one of those shirt/tie combo packs that scream "I have so little creativity that I let corporate America tell me what goes with what. I'm basically a grown man in Garanimals."

__________________"When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look but it was gone, I cannot put my finger on it now. The child is grown, the dream is gone. I have become comfortably numb. " Pink Floyd

I never trust dudes whose ties are the same color as their shirt like that. It means that he went to Penney's and got one of those shirt/tie combo packs that scream "I have so little creativity that I let corporate America tell me what goes with what. I'm basically a grown man in Garanimals."

So funny!

Which really highlights the clear but seldom discussed awkwardness of The Don. I'm not sure I've seen a more awkward "scientist" on TV ever. Naturally I've not been in his class, but I've cringed enough at his scattered TV moments that being in his class couldn't possibly be any better. I always visualize that scene in Airplane where people keep committing suicide listening to Ted Striker tell his war tales. I mean, could Meldrum be any less interesting?! His mannerisms, overall pooziness, that ******* beard, and especially that wimpy voice, which never portrays even a hint of true authority or sincerity. To me his disingenuousness has always been so apparent I could never believe people actually bought it, but I had foolishly forgotten how stupid thick people can really be.

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Key to understanding the Olympic Project "Bigfoot nests":
If human DNA is found... it's a Bigfoot nest that was contaminated by humans.
If bear DNA is found... it's a Bigfoot nest that was contaminated by bear.
If deer or elk DNA is found... it's a Bigfoot nest that was contaminated by deer or elk.
If any other animal DNA is found... it's a Bigfoot nest that was contaminated by other animals.
If no DNA is found... it's a Bigfoot nest from which no DNA was found.

So what you're saying is it's a Bigfoot nest? What is a Bigfoot nest anyway? And why does DNA think this one was a nest? Wait I meant DWA.

A potential simple way for us to game Meldrum's own game is to offer him some money. It's an obvious fact he's into Bigfooting for the money (and the chicks, man), but of course his claim is he's only into Bigfooting for the science. Okay Mr. Science, let's play that. Offer him enough money that his saying no actually makes him look like an asshat. Say offer $10,000 for him to come here and get annihilated by debate us? In theory it puts him into a conundrum he probably never expected. Does he take the money and risk being outed as the hack that he is (within just a short amount of time), or does he refuse because he knows that's true, but also knows it'll make him look like a real douchebag to his followers for not defending Bigfoot from a bunch of Internet hacks (whilst making $10,000 that could fund all manner of stupid new Bigfoot tricks)? If he's so convinced Bigfoot is real there's absolutely nothing here that's standing in his way of going out and getting one and proving us wrong. Until then there's questions he's never felt compelled to want to answer.

Heck, I'm willing for him to come here and just debate The Shrike, his legitimate professional peer, though that's in no way good news for him. We could make up a a wanted poster. Wanted Alive - Don Jeffrey Meldrum - $10,000 - Must Be Brought In Alive By Don Jeffrey Meldrum Himself. He'll NEVER show up here (or make his presence known if he does/has).

Meldrum will simply say he would not waste his time. In all my interactions with him regarding Bigfoot evidence claims, if something can be resoundingly shown to be not Bigfoot, but it is something he has promoted, such as the Skookum elk lay or the Blue Creek Mountain Ray Wallace hoax tracks from August 1967, and you show him that evidence and try to engage him on it, he quickly becomes angry and will not engage further.

The fact that to most fundamentalists horror, he hitched himself to Todd Standing for profit, it shows he is far more interested in prestige and profit than any desire for truth. Offering him money to engage in debate would not interest him because there would be not only no prestige with the profit, but a loss of prestige at the inevitable huff he gets in when he can't preach to the choir.

__________________Until better evidence is provided, the best solution to the PGF is that it is a man in a suit. -Astrophotographer.

My bigger point is more obscure than I thought. We use it to embarrass him. The offer itself is the game. How does he respond?! As my last sentence above exclaims I know he'll never show up here, so we take advantage of that specific fact. We put out a legitimate request for Don Meldrum, say on his Facebook page, to show up at the ISF for A Few Good Questions™ for $10,000. And when he doesn't show we lose absolutely nothing, but he potentially loses a bunch of things. That is I definitely can't see him benefiting from it. I mean, if we're gonna take the guy down we gotta take the guy down.

Oh and if he ever does decide to show up, it's easily covered, The Shrike's got the cash.

An education does not insulate one from being, "Out There"... Many scientists have gone over the edge, J. Alan Hynek, Jacques Valiee, Dr. Timothy Leary, Frank J. Tipler, just to name a few. With all due respect to Dr. Meldrums position, he is merely another victim of ignoring science in favor of a desired outcome. The scant 'evidence' that he champions is only 'evidence' if you ignore the rest of science. It just doesn't work that way.

I am sure Dr. Meldrum is as sincere and honest as the day is long. But you can be sincere and honest, and still be in error. That doesn't mean he is not probably a great teacher. I imagine he is, or the University would not keep him.

I don't think a cash offer is needed. Why not just set up a conference in Pocatello? Could even be on campus.

Yes this.

It is a checkmate move. Either he accepts the invite and you clobber him, or he doesn't show up and you can add to your presentation that "THE GREAT BIGFOOT PROFESSOR DECLINED TO TALK WITH US HERE TODAY"

__________________"I dont call that evolution, I call that the survival of the fittest." - Bulletmaker
"I thought skeptics would usually point towards a hoax rather than a group being duped." - makaya325
Kit is not a skeptic. He is a former Bigfoot believer that changed his position to that of non believer.- Crowlogic

I don't think a cash offer is needed. Why not just set up a conference in Pocatello? Could even be on campus.

I'll explain it one more time and then I'll forget it. We don't have to do anything except make the offer.We don't have to set up a tent on a university campus that's 2,500 miles away. Or get permission or get lunch or a hotel room. Or even make a phone call, once the offer is made all we have to do is what everyone who "prays" for somebody does, nothing.

Originally Posted by gigmaster

...I am sure Dr. Meldrum is as sincere and honest as the day is long. But you can be sincere and honest, and still be in error. That doesn't mean he is not probably a great teacher. I imagine he is, or the University would not keep him.

Really? The ole "bad employees don't have jobs so he must be a good one" routine? That's twice this week. But seriously, sincere and honest as the day is long? I promise that's not true. Though the exact degree of which has been in debate here for awhile.

Originally Posted by The Shrike

Well he's an outstanding advocate for the Mormon Church at a land-grant university. That's almost certainly where his support comes from in Administration.

It is a checkmate move. Either he accepts the invite and you clobber him, or he doesn't show up and you can add to your presentation that "THE GREAT BIGFOOT PROFESSOR DECLINED TO TALK WITH US HERE TODAY"

If we actually had an ISF Field Office (or even an ISF Field Officer) on the ISU campus, yes that could work, but short of that...

Originally Posted by kitakaze

Meldrum's Mormon cult gobbledy-goop championing is I think the biggest indication that you can get a PhD and drink a whole lot of Kool-Aid at the same time.

More tourist-trap bigfoot bs from our trip to Colorado. These items were for sale in the gift shop at the museum for the cliff-dweller Pueblo in Manitou Springs. Bonus - Meldrum's ridiculous "field guide" for how to do real pseudoscience just like the pros!

Really? The ole "bad employees don't have jobs so he must be a good one" routine? That's twice this week. But seriously, sincere and honest as the day is long? I promise that's not true. Though the exact degree of which has been in debate here for awhile.

What direct evidence do you have that Dr. Meldrum is not honest? Has he stolen anything? Can you point to a purposeful lie that he has told? Has he broken any laws? Does he treat his family well? I can disagree with someone without attacking them personally.

As far as the first part of your response, I have been around a long time, and it has been my experience that, except for the government, in general, bad employees seldom keep their positions for very long.

There is no valid evidence for the existence of Bigfoot as anything other than campfire stories. Until any real evidence is obtained and verified, any other explanations are poppycock, regardless of who they come from.

What direct evidence do you have that Dr. Meldrum is not honest? Has he stolen anything? Can you point to a purposeful lie that he has told? Has he broken any laws? Does he treat his family well? I can disagree with someone without attacking them personally.

As far as the first part of your response, I have been around a long time, and it has been my experience that, except for the government, in general, bad employees seldom keep their positions for very long.

There is no valid evidence for the existence of Bigfoot as anything other than campfire stories. Until any real evidence is obtained and verified, any other explanations are poppycock, regardless of who they come from.

The first question (in bold) is answered by the second bolded part.

Selling bogus bigfoot casts and "studying" them under the guise of legitimate research is dishonest. By your own definition.

What direct evidence do you have that Dr. Meldrum is not honest? Has he stolen anything? Can you point to a purposeful lie that he has told? Has he broken any laws? Does he treat his family well? I can disagree with someone without attacking them personally.

As far as the first part of your response, I have been around a long time, and it has been my experience that, except for the government, in general, bad employees seldom keep their positions for very long.

There is no valid evidence for the existence of Bigfoot as anything other than campfire stories. Until any real evidence is obtained and verified, any other explanations are poppycock, regardless of who they come from.

This is page 69 of a thread devoted to that exact question. Is he self-deluded or a classic swindler?

Originally Posted by gigmaster

. . . , except for the government, in general, bad employees seldom keep their positions for very long.

Meldrum is in government. He's an employee of the state of Idaho. He also has tenure. That's a double-whammy of difficulty in getting rid of him. We've discussed in this thread various scenarios to explain how he's kept his job.

What direct evidence do you have that Dr. Meldrum is not honest? Has he stolen anything? Can you point to a purposeful lie that he has told? Has he broken any laws? Does he treat his family well? I can disagree with someone without attacking them personally.

Meldrum collaborates with and endorses known hoaxer Todd Standing and his ridiculous Muppetfoots..

__________________Until better evidence is provided, the best solution to the PGF is that it is a man in a suit. -Astrophotographer.

Does anyone think that Meldrum actually believes (or believed) Gigantopithecus families are wandering the woods of North America?

Quote:

“My working hypothesis has always been that this is very likely Gigantopithecus extant — that we have a species that’s in the right place at the right time, the right size and some of the right characteristics in the form of Gigantopithecus in East Asia during the late Pleistocene [era] to have expanded into North America,” said Jeff Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University.

“My working hypothesis has always been that this is very likely Gigantopithecus extant — that we have a species that’s in the right place at the right time, the right size and some of the right characteristics in the form of Gigantopithecus in East Asia during the late Pleistocene [era] to have expanded into North America,” said Jeff Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University

This is shady too.
Gigantopithecus' northern most location is around 8000 miles from Bering land bridge.

If you think you can convince people, that a quadrupedal, giant bamboo eater, is going to pick up the fam and walk 8000 miles, then that is shady.

I brought this up on his Facebook page, I even offered him an out. I said it was far more likely that a couple of Gigantopithici were on a chunk of floating land/grasses/bamboo that broke off the mainland and floated across the pacific. He said something like: it wasn't a reasonable option.

__________________"I dont call that evolution, I call that the survival of the fittest." - Bulletmaker
"I thought skeptics would usually point towards a hoax rather than a group being duped." - makaya325
Kit is not a skeptic. He is a former Bigfoot believer that changed his position to that of non believer.- Crowlogic

This is shady too.
Gigantopithecus' northern most location is around 8000 miles from Bering land bridge.

If you think you can convince people, that a quadrupedal, giant bamboo eater, is going to pick up the fam and walk 8000 miles, then that is shady.

I brought this up on his Facebook page, I even offered him an out. I said it was far more likely that a couple of Gigantopithici were on a chunk of floating land/grasses/bamboo that broke off the mainland and floated across the pacific. He said something like: it wasn't a reasonable option.

The deliberate obfuscation by invoking lesser known elements of "science" that are still in deep question themselves proves his dishonesty. He knows the science on Gigantopithecus is not extensive nor settled in any way, yet blatantly says he uses it as the "always been" basis for his interest in Bigfoot? Without a single piece of actual modern day evidence? Mere mortals could probably do that, but he's the gawd scientist who should know better.

And I didn't realize you had interactions with him on Facebook. Ask him why there is evidence of a species that went extinct 100,000 years ago yet not a single lick of it for the purported thriving modern version some 100,000 years later. How is it physically possible for us humans to have somehow been totally unable to discern such a beast's existence in all that time, and why hasn't its existence ever impacted us humans, ever? Don Jeffrey really believes in this newfangled concept of "new species through special pleading" process being looked at by scientistscongress nobody?

The deliberate obfuscation by invoking lesser known elements of "science" that are still in deep question themselves proves his dishonesty. He knows the science on Gigantopithecus is not extensive nor settled in any way, yet blatantly says he uses it as the "always been" basis for his interest in Bigfoot? Without a single piece of actual modern day evidence? Mere mortals could probably do that, but he's the gawd scientist who should know better.

And I didn't realize you had interactions with him on Facebook. Ask him why there is evidence of a species that went extinct 100,000 years ago yet not a single lick of it for the purported thriving modern version some 100,000 years later. How is it physically possible for us humans to have somehow been totally unable to discern such a beast's existence in all that time, and why hasn't its existence ever impacted us humans, ever? Don Jeffrey really believes in this newfangled concept of "new species through special pleading" process being looked at by scientistscongress nobody?

The man willingly takes part in blatant and known hoaxes, so his legitimacy isn't even worth questioning at this point.

From the Russian Yeti nonsense which he knew was a joke, only to later pretend that he'd been hoodwinked, to that nonsense "Bigfoot Captured" crap, which wasn't even trying to hide the fact that it was a fictional show, and yet had Meldrum on it giving his best scientist impression alongside an equally idiotic John Bindernagel, to the Skookum crap, and beyond.

It's clear that the only people who take Meldrum seriously are the few true retards who still think Bigfoot could be out there.

Oh he blocked me after I asked him about the Falcon Project, in the months before that got blown up.

__________________"I dont call that evolution, I call that the survival of the fittest." - Bulletmaker
"I thought skeptics would usually point towards a hoax rather than a group being duped." - makaya325
Kit is not a skeptic. He is a former Bigfoot believer that changed his position to that of non believer.- Crowlogic

The man willingly takes part in blatant and known hoaxes, so his legitimacy isn't even worth questioning at this point.

From the Russian Yeti nonsense which he knew was a joke, only to later pretend that he'd been hoodwinked, to that nonsense "Bigfoot Captured" crap, which wasn't even trying to hide the fact that it was a fictional show, and yet had Meldrum on it giving his best scientist impression alongside an equally idiotic John Bindernagel, to the Skookum crap, and beyond.

It's clear that the only people who take Meldrum seriously are the few true retards who still think Bigfoot could be out there.

Love that word retards! Far better at describing his type of minion than the sort with an actual "intellectual disability" (the new PC term). He's made it clear he's greedy. Seems he accepts every paying Bigfoot gig offered, no matter the "science". And really only has to worry about his next LIE that will excuse his deliberate participation in such stupid ****.

Originally Posted by Drewbot

Oh he blocked me after I asked him about the Falcon Project, in the months before that got blown up.

Of course he did because he's such a **** ******. "I'm a scientist, but I hate intelligent questions that expose ruses. You're blocked." Really Don "Criminal Mind" Meldrum? That's why he'll never come here for any amount of anything. No control over the ambient intelligence. His ruse would look like burnt Nevada Test Site™ toast afterwards.